


Life (uh) Finds a Way

by Lyra_Kero



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Dinosaur Aliens, Dinosaur Planet - Freeform, Dinosaurs, M/M, Season/Series 03, Surprising, The Klance is actually subtle, around there, idk - Freeform, ish, violence against dinosaurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-03-31 14:57:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyra_Kero/pseuds/Lyra_Kero
Summary: “Holy shit.” Lance whispered, feeling himself begin to cry. “This is…”“They’re beautiful.” Keith gasped, feeling his body shake. Hunk was sniffling and covering his mouth. Pidge was fiddling with something on her wrist brace, not daring pull her gaze from the scene before her, before a soft and familiar orchestral tune started._______It was supposed to be a quick mission: drop down to the planet, find the ore they needed and be off.No one mentioned that the creatures inhabiting the planet were, ah, prehistoric in appearance.





	1. Hold On to your Butts

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this was indulgent.  
> I started this back in Season 4 but just now finished it.  
> Idk maybe this will just be a daily update or every couple days.

The planet Oria was awful. It was hot, mist rolling around their feet as the Paladins walked through thick foliage, trying not to melt inside their armor.

“This sucks.” Lance wheezed.  
“You’ve said that ten times already.” Pidge grumbled, though she was faring no better than her teammate. Everyone, really, was ready to call it quits and go back to the castleship. But of course Allura told them that they needed some something or other? What were they even looking for again?

“Jesrupil ore.” came the princess’s voice, as if she could read minds.  
(could she read minds?)  
“This planet is rich with it, plus it’s so out of the way that there should be no problems in gathering it.” Allura continued. She looked over to the Pidge, and frowned. “You… asked that out loud, Pidge.”

Oh. Guess Allura can’t read minds.  
Damn.

 

“So, uh, remind me again why we need it?” Lance asked. “I feel like my brain is getting fried.”  
“Because we’re running low on it, and we need it.” As if that was the most obvious answer.  
“Okay, but what does it do?” Hunk added, everyone turning to look at Allura, who paused.  
“It… well you see,” she frowned, eyebrows knitting together. “It’s… it does a thing…. And… that helps another thing do it’s thing.”

“You have no idea do you?” Lance more stated than asked.  
“It’s important!”

The laughter of the group was cut short when the nearby foliage rustled, causing the five Paladins to call their bayards and take the defensive. Keith narrowed his eyes, tentatively taking a step towards the bush.  
“Keith!” Lance hissed, “Get back here, young man!” Naturally, Keith continued onward, black blade at the ready.  
The bush rustled more, before a head popped out. The creature’s neck was long, covered in what looked like grey fur, but the head seemed to have thinner fur the closer it got to its snout. A snout that had a pair of red crowns growing up towards his eyes. A snout that was equally as red, oblong, and filled with tiny needle teeth. Dark, black eyes stared the Black Paladin down, causing Keith’s steps to falter, though he stood his ground.

 

“What is that?” Lance asked, training his rifle at the creature, ready to shoot if it made a move towards Keith or the others.  
“It… kind of looks like a Dilophosaurus.” Pidge muttered, her eyebrows knitting together.  
“A what-a-whorus?” the Red Paladin turned his head, raising an eyebrow.

“A spitting lizard from Jurassic Park.” Hunk said. “You know, after we found out what they kind of looked like?” Lance gave a quiet _”oh”_ of acknowledgement.

 

And just like that the dilophosaurus-creature stepped out of the foliage, revealing a body roughly the size of a golden retriever. Standing on two powerful looking back legs and two arms that looked too scrawny to properly carry its weight, but seemed to do the job, and a narrow tail that stood straight behind it. It took a cautious step towards Keith, who thankfully took one back.  
“its… they don’t actually spit acid, do they?” Lance asked, training his gun back on the creature.

“No.” Pidge said, causing Lance to sigh with relief. “But this thing isn’t technically a Dilophosaurus. It just looks like one.”  
Tension’s back. Thanks Pidge.

 

And just like that, the Dilopho-notasaurus, as Lance was coming to decide to name it, opened its mouth and gave out a click-hiss, lunging forward and leaped into the air. Keith swung his blade, catching the back of the creature’s leg, sharp black talons connecting with his bayard, before he shoved it back. The creature let out another hiss, its fur standing on end as it reared back on its hind legs, coming to stand nearly face-to-face with the Black Paladin. There was a low gurgle and Keith just barely had the time to throw up his shield before the creature spat at him. There was a low hissing noise as the spit dripped down his shield and onto the ground.  
“Okay!” Lance said, “Dilopho-notasaurus spits acid!” He took aim, the creature’s attention turning towards him and the rest of the paladins. As it charged forward, Lance fired off a shot, hitting the creature in the leg. The Dilopho-notasaurus stumbled, growling as it quickly hobbled backwards, and back into the foliage to make its retreat, sounds of distress echoing until it was too far away.

 

The group stared for a moment, Keith carefully lowering his shield, still wary. “Guys. Did… That just happened right?” he said, carefully turning his head.  
“Allura do you know what that was?” Pidge asked, eying the princess, though she only shook her head.  
“I’m sure we could figure out the creature back on the castle, but…” Keith was already breaking through the foliage, following after the Dilopho-notasaurus.  
“Keith! What did we say about running ahead?” Lance shouted, growling, “I swear we need a leash for him!”  
“I don’t want to hear about your sexual fantasies, Lance.” the Green Paladin said, before the group quickly followed their leader.

 

They didn’t have to run long. They broke through the dense trees, only to find Keith staring up at the sky, his eyes wide with awe and…  
“Dude,” Lance said, frowning, “are you crying?”  
“Lance.” he breathed, taking off his helmet. “Holy shit.”

The group followed his gaze and everyone’s breaths caught in their throats.

 

“Holy shit.” Lance whispered, feeling himself begin to cry. “This is…”  
“They’re beautiful.” Keith gasped, feeling his body shake. Hunk was sniffling and covering his mouth. Pidge was fiddling with something on her wrist brace, not daring pull her gaze from the scene before her, before a soft and familiar orchestral tune started.

No one dared call her out on it as they watched large creatures beat their leathery wings against the sky, circling one another before flying off. Larger creatures, bigger than the Dilopho-notasaurus, huddled together as they slowly walked across the plains, their long necks raised elegantly into the sky. Farther out more creatures could be seen, grazing in the grass or foraging for food. Somewhere one of the creatures bellowed, its voice carrying and causing the group to tremble, listening as another returned the call.

Planet Oria was amazing.

“Welcome,” Lance couldn’t stop himself. “to Jurassic Park.”

 

 

“What’s a Jurassic?” Allura asked, looking to the four humans in confusion.

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

The four teens cried in awe, silent for a long period of time. No one wanted to move, afraid that the scene before them would fizzle and fade. Would warp and they’d be gone. No one wanted to speak out of fear that they’d scare the creatures before them.  
The silence was broken when Keith took a shaky breath and felt himself move to sit down. “Holy shit.” seemed to be the only thing he could say.

“Guys.” Pidge said, “Guys, they’re… they’re dinosaurs!”  
“Motherfucking dinosaurs!” Lance said, and the reality of what they were seeing hit them. “We’re on a Dino Planet!”  
“I love space.” Hunk said, his smile bright and wide.  
“Does this mean dinosaurs are aliens?” Keith asked, his voice sounding soft and far away. “Like, did they evolve from aliens?”

“It’s… maybe?” Pidge said, “We still don’t know much about them, since we can’t Jurassic Park them into existence.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh man! I could get so much data about them! When we get back to earth we can tell everyone about what dinosaurs are really like!”  
“But the Dilopho-notasaurus spat acid, and Dilophosaurus didn’t.” Hunk said, picking up Lance’s inane naming scheme.

“So, what? These are… Dino...notasaurs?” Pidge said, her face scrunching up. “God that’s a mouthful.”  
“Let’s just call them dinosaurs.” Keith said, a hint of pleading in his voice. “We’re looking at dinosaurs you guys.”

 

“What’s a dinosaur?” Allura’s voice brought the four humans back to reality that one person was out of their dino-awe’d loop.  
“Dinosaurs are old earth animals,” Pidge said, smiling happily. “They lived millions of years before humans were able to evolve.”  
“That and they’re amazing!” Lance added, bouncing on his feet. “Look at them! They’re dinosaurs! We’re on a Dino Planet!” he repeated, giddily.  
Keith had just continued to stare in awe at the creatures before them. Lance looking down to him and raised an eyebrow. “Dude, you okay?”  
“I always wanted to see dinosaurs.” the Black Paladin said, not tearing his gaze away. “When I was younger I always dreamed I’d build a time machine or something and just... go back in time or something. Find a dinosaur and bring it back with me and keep it as a pet. Ride it around town instead of riding my bike. I’d be the cool, popular kid with the dinosaur pet.” His face instantly heated as he realized his words. “B-but, that’s kind of stupid. I was younger, okay? Really. Really. Young.” He finally moved his eyes, quickly flicking them up to Lance, then to the side, down to his feet before they slowly traveled back to the dino-notasaurs.

“Hey, it’s fine.” Lance said, smiling as he moved to sit next to him. “I had a dino-phase, too. I remember distinctly wanting a Mosasaurus. I thought I could keep it in the pool in the backyard. My mom pointed out that the Mosasaurus would get bigger, but I told her I’d just dig a bigger pool for her.”  
“Her?” Keith looked over, raising an eyebrow.  
“Yes. Her. I was gonna name her Bubbles.” the Cuban boy huffed, glaring at Keith, daring him to say something.  
“I was gonna get a raptor and name him Fluffy.”

Nope. Lance was the one to start laughing, causing Keith to glare harder. “I’d sick him on people like you.” he said, though was smirking. “I’d go _Fluffy! Get him!_ And the bullies would laugh until Fluffy came up and started eating them.”  
“You… you _would_ name a raptor Fluffy!” the Red Paladin said between fits, wrapping his arms across his stomach and doubling over. “Oh man! My… m-my stomach!”  
“You were going to name a Mosasaurus _Bubbles_!” the shorter boy pointed out, crossing his arms.

“Girls, enough.” Pidge said, huffing as she looked towards a small screen projected from her wrist.  
“We should probably find that.. Jessup whatever.” Hunk added, smiling down to the two.  
“Jesrupil ore.” Allura helpfully chimed in.  
“Yeah, that.”  
“According to what Allura said, the ore’s usually found in moist areas.” the smallest Paladin said, pointing to a spot on her screen, revealing it to be a map. The group gathered around her. “There should be a river not that far ahead, so if we just follow that there’s a good chance we’ll be able to find a deposit somewhere and mine it.”

“Easy peasy!” Lance said, smiling. “I love when missions are simple!”  
“We’ll have to try and avoid the dino-notasaurs, though.” the Yellow Paladin said, frowning as Keith muttered “just call them dinosaurs” under his breath. “You know, like the Dilopho-notasauruses.”  
“Even if they look like the gentle herbivores, we really can’t trust them to behave how we know our dinosaurs acted.” Pidge added. “So it’s best to just leave them alone.”  
“So… we can’t catch a raptor and name him Fluffy?” Lance asked, grinning, causing Keith to pout.  
“Or a Mosasaurus and name her Bubbles.” he said, the smile slipping from the Red Paladin’s face.  
“Cheap shot.”  
“You started it.”

 

Lance opened his mouth to fire off another retort, but Keith was already turning back to the group. “Come on. Pidge, keep that map up. We just need to get the ore and then get back to the castleship.”  
“ _Meh-meh-meh-meh-meh-get back to the castleship_.” Lance said, maturely under his breath, causing Hunk to stifle a giggle, but the group of five followed the Green Paladin regardless, Yellow and Blue behind her, Red taking up step behind them and Black holding up the rear.

 

For the most part, the dino-aliens seemed to avoid the Paladins as they walked, Keith gazing up in awe when they got close, enough that Lance turned around when he lagged behind briefly. “Hey, eyes on the prize, mullet!” he said, causing Keith to pout.  
Apart from that, however, it was a mostly uneventful trip.

 

Mostly.  
There was a low rumbling and the group froze, turning towards the noise. They saw a group of creatures, standing roughly ten-feet tall herding in a group, calling out to one another. In front of them was a group of much smaller, more Paladin sized, dinos that were running from them.

“Are they hunting?” Pidge asked, interest peaked.  
“Looks like it.” Lance said, “Man, I feel sorry for the guys that get caught out. But, guess that’s the circle of life.”

 

The group continued to watch, transfixed, before Pidge paled. “Uh, guys?” she said, nervously, her legs pulling her back. “You remember the Gallimimus scene in Jurassic Park?”  
“No.”  
“Yeah.” Hunk said, looking towards the short girl, ignoring the princess, who gave an annoyed huff.  
“Well, I think those things are flocking this way.”

 

And sure enough the group of smaller dinos had turned towards them, leading the larger pack to follow.

 

“Cheese it!” Lance yelled, and the group took off, yelling, soon followed by the dinos that were quickly integrating the paladins into their flock. The cries and yips from the creatures were deafening as the group was shoved one way and another.

“Why are we listening to the Prometheus School of Running Away From Things?” Hunk yelled out, looking over his shoulder.  
“What?” Allura asked, her face scrunching up.  
“Go that way!” Pidge yelled, her Hunk and Allura breaking to the right. Lance and Keith began to follow, but the smaller dinosaurs had cut through, forcing them to race off towards the left.

The group of three managed to stagger behind a boulder, peeking out as they watched the stampede. “Guys, where’s Keith and Lance?” Hunk asked, realizing two of their teams are gone. “Oh man. Did we go from Jurassic Park to the Lion King? Because I am not down for crying again!”  
“Keith? Lance?” Pidge brought a hand to her helmet, trying to contact the other two. “Can you read me?”

 

“Busy!” Lance’s frantic voice called out, he and Keith continuing to run. Some of the smaller creatures had followed them, and now the pack was on their tail. “Trying not to get eaten!”  
“This way!” Keith yelled, grabbing Lance’s wrist as he tugged him away, “We have to try breaking off!”  
“Where?!” the Red Paladin shot back, eyes narrowed. “Keith, there’s _nowhere_ to go!” He waved his free arm around, “We either go out into the open where the flocking pack of ravenous carnivores are gonna eat us or,” his words trailed off as he looked along the cliffside ahead. “Oh. Oh hell no!” They slowed, panting heavily as they looked over the cliff. “We are _not_ jumping!”

“ _What?_ ” Hunk’s voice came over the coms. “What about jumping? What’s going on?!”  
“Keith’s gone full loco!” Lance said, “Keith we’re not jumping!”  
“Then you think of a better plan!” Keith growled out.

 

No better plan was made, though. The smaller dinosaurs had caught up, panicking as they reached the cliffside. A few lagged back, risking being caught by the larger creatures, others broke off to try and continue to outrun their pursuers.  
The rest charged forward, staggering and stumbling over the cliff, a few body checking the Paladins and in a scene reminiscent of a movie about animated lions, the two were knocked into the air, and over the cliff. In their coms they heard their team shouting at them to respond, demanding to know what was going on.

All the two Paladins could do in response was scream as they looked down, seeing a river quickly catching up to their falling bodies.


	2. That's Chaos Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the team split up, they each work out a way to come back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That "Violence Against Dinosaurs" tag up there comes into play.  
> I don't think it's that graphic, but if you're really sensitive to that, or just don't want no part of that, then please skip from the following areas:
> 
> "A large mass descended from the sky..." to "Paladins? Is everything alright out there?"
> 
> "All at once a loud splash sounded" to "Yeah, no. I'm ready to get the fuck off this planet"
> 
> and "That plan lasted a good while" to "The river was still once more"
> 
> You guys stay safe!

The water hurt. _Fuck_ did it hurt! What was with those shows and movies saying it was better to land in the water than on land?  
Well, at least he wasn’t dead. So that’s good.

Lance managed to open his eyes, righting himself as he followed the stream of bubbles from his mouth up to the surface, and gasped in air. He looked around, wincing as a larger form landed next to him. The smaller dinosaurs seemed to struggle in the water, some never resurfacing while others managed to get onto dry land where they shook themselves dry before taking off into the dense foliage.  
The Red Paladin managed to make it to land and groaned, rubbing at his shoulder. “Man, that hurts.” he grumbled, turning to look at the water. It was pretty, at least. Clean and clear, sans the few flailing bodies. He raised his hand to his helmet trying out the coms. “Hey. Guys?” Static.

Peachy.

“So what now, fearless leader?” Lance asked, turning to look around. “Uh… Keith?”  
He felt himself start to panic when he didn’t see the Black Paladin and turned back to the water. “Oh don’t you dare…” He hurried over to the bank, seeing a few dinos still struggling to stay on the surface, but no mullet. He quickly ran back into the water, getting up to his knees when the surface broke and a loud gasp was pulled from Keith’s lips. “You asshole!” Lance shrieked, his heart rate settling as the black haired boy managed to swim over to the shore, staying on his hands and knees as he took in deep breaths.

“Hi to you too.” Keith managed to say, looking up towards Lance. “What’s with you?”  
“With me?!” Lance asked, his hands beginning to flail. “I thought you were drowning!”

“What? No.” the older boy scrunched up his nose, moving to sit on his legs, “One of those… things fell on top of me when it landed in the water. It was struggling so I had a harder time trying to get back up with it panicking.” He winced, raising his hand to his helmet and Lance felt a sense of deja vu. “Guys? Do you read me? Guys, come in.”  
“Mine didn’t work either.” the Cuban offered, watching Keith sigh before he came to stand up, wincing as his hands moved towards his back.  
“Who the hell said landing in water wouldn’t hurt?” Keith grumbled, rubbing a sore spot.

“No clue.” Lance said, before looking up along the cliff. “We should probably find a way back up to the others.” Keith gave a hum of agreement.

 

“Didn’t Pidge say that ore would be found around the riverbank?” the black haired boy asked, looking around, though the brunet shook his head.  
“Oh, no. We’re going back up to the rest of the team _then_ we can lead them down here and look for it together.”

“If we find it first, though, once we group back up we can just leave the planet.”  
“I thought you liked dinosaurs?” Lance teased, smirking down to the older boy.

 

“I did. Until we were thrown off a cliff by them.” Keith said, huffing as he crossed his arms.  
Oh. Yeah, that... probably would do it, wouldn’t it?  
“Yeah, okay. I’m not keen on getting run over by a flock of wild dinos, either.” the Cuban boy looked around, frowning. “How are we going to find the ore?”  
“Let’s just follow the flow of the river upstream and find something… ore-y.”  
“Aye-aye, Captain!”

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

“Oh man, neither of them are answering!” Hunk whined out, panic settling into him. Granted, he’d been panicking since he realized that Keith and Lance weren’t next to them. “Lance said something about jumping! What if they got hurt? What if they lost their helmets? What if a dinosaur ate them?!”

“Hunk! I’m sure they’re fine!” Pidge said, tapping at something on the projected screen. Two small dots soon appeared on the map and she smiled, seeing them starting to move. “Look, see? That’s them. They’re moving. Something must have gone wrong with their coms. We can start heading that direction and we’ll meet them halfway. It even looks like they’re next to a river, so they might find some Jesrupil Ore.”

“Let’s get moving, then.” Allura said, placing her hands on her hips. “The sooner we reach them, the sooner we can get that ore and get back to the castle.”

 

“Maybe I can get some more data on these dinosaurs while we’re here, too.” Pidge said, grinning excitedly at the thought. “I mean, we nearly got ran over and-slash-or eaten but this place is still amazing!”

“Yeah, okay, but can we maybe look at something that won’t try and kill us? Like brachiosauruses?”  
“We’re gonna just have to take what this planet throws at us, Hunk.” To that, Hunk could imagine the cow scene in Twister, only with dinosaurs.  
“I don’t want to have a Dino Storm, thank you very much.”

 

The three began their trek, taking care to keep an eye on the dinosaurs more intently as to not be overwhelmed like last time. They really didn’t want their small group broken up anymore.

They all jerked their heads around at a noise and Pidge gave out a coo of excitement. “Parasaurolophus!”  
“Um, bless you?” Allura said, raising an eyebrow.  
“No! They look like Parasaurolophus!”  
“Parasauro-notolophus!” Hunk said, filling in for what Lance certainly would have said. “Wow, yeah, that’s actually really hard to say.”

The creatures were together, grazing. They were massive, a thin layer of fluff coating their neck and back, down to short feathers on their arms. Large crests, mostly dull yellow and green, protruded from the tops of their skulls. There was one, however, whose crest was a bright, vivid red that dulled in color the closer it got towards its flat snout, evening into a brown that was lighter than its comrades.

This one raised its head, fixing its gaze on the three paladins, before lowering its head. A solemn honk sounded, alerting the others and they all raised their heads, staring down the group.

“Uh…” Hunk frowned, beginning to fidget. “Should… we go?”  
“I think going is a good idea.” Pidge said, as her and the others began to slowly move backwards, doing their best to avoid the creatures, while keeping them in their sights. Then it happened.  
A large mass descended from the sky, large leathery wings kicking up dust as the group of Parasaur-notolophus gave out startled cries and scattered. One wasn’t so lucky and was pinned down by the massive creature, a large curved beak clamping down and shaking the poor creature before throwing it to the ground. The Parasaur-notolophus gave a feeble honk, leg broken and unable to move as the winged carnivore lowered its beak once more and with a jerk tore its head clean off.

 

“Yeah, no,” Hunk said, paling at the sight, “that’s fine. I didn’t want to keep my lunch anyway.”  
“Let’s… l-let’s go. Before that things decides we’d make good seconds.” Pidge swallowed down her own bile, watching as the winged creature jerked its head to swallow its prey, going back for more. The three quickly took off, stumbling over their feet before a familiar voice reached them over the coms.

“ _Paladins? Is everything alright out there?_ ” Coran. Good old Coran!  
“Uh, define alright.” Pidge said, “We lost Keith and Lance and we’re currently trying not to get eaten by dinosaurs.”  
“ _Dino-whats?_ ”  
“Nevermind.” Allura smiled, “It’s just that the creatures on this planet apparently resemble old Earth creatures.”  
“ _Really?_ ” Coran asked, sounding more interested. “ _I say, number five would you be able to get a few pictures and document some of them for me? I’d love to learn about your old creatures!_ ”

“Well, they’re not really dinosaurs,” Pidge said, “but I think I could still get some pictures and behavioural data that we can input into the castle’s files for the planet.”  
“ _Wonderful!_ ” the older Altean said, “ _I shall do my best to try and contact Lance and Keith and I’ll let you know when I reach them._ ”  
“Thanks, Coran!” Hunk said, smiling as the color returned to his face. The group as a whole seemed to relax at the sound of a familiar voice.

Pidge smiled, looking down to the map she was displaying. “Alright. Let’s keep going!”

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

“Let’s take a break.” Lance sighed, groaning as he stopped, “My legs are killing me. We haven’t found any Jell-O ore and we haven’t found a way back up to the rest of the group.”  
“And I still can’t get this stupid com to work.” Keith added as he, once more, tried to contact the others before growling in frustration. He looked out towards the water, frowning as he watched the other shoreline, seeing a small creature scamper towards the end, tentatively sniffing before it began to drink.

 

All at once a loud splash sounded, causing the two Paladins to jump and they watched as a large maw came around the creature and dragged it crying and squirming into the water. The whole thing lasted no more than three seconds, and shortly after the water was once again placid.

 

“Yeah, no I’m ready to get the fuck off this planet now.” Lance said, frowning as he started walking again. “I am not about to get eaten by a river monster!” He took a few more steps huffing before letting out a startled cry, bringing Keith to run over, before the two froze.

 

There in the water was a large mass, two eyes glaring up at them as it seemed to slowly drift closer. “Uh, that… that thing can’t get us on dry land, can it?” the Red Paladin asked, nervously.  
“How should I know?” Keith shot back, unsure why they were both whispering, “I don’t even know what it is.”  
“Trouble. That’s what that is.” Lance swallowed thickly. The two began to slowly creep along the shoreline, pulling themselves farther back, never once taking their eyes off the creature. “I think it’s waiting for us to get closer.”  
“Let’s not, then.” the older boy’s grip tightened around Lance’s arm. “Just… just slowly walk away and hope that it doesn’t get the idea to follow us.”

 

That plan lasted a good while, the two Paladins slowly maneuvering away from whatever the creature in the water was, but soon there was a snarl and the head jutted out of the water, looking crocodilian in nature only with a lot more teeth. It began to lunge forward, causing the two teens to jump back, Lance training his bayard on the creature and ready to shoot until a second maw appeared, wrapping around the first monster’s neck. With a strangled gurgle and a snap, the croco-monster’s head was jerked backwards and dragged into the water, a loud slap sounding as their unlikely saviour’s body rolled out of the water, its paddle shaped tail hitting the water on its way back down.

The river was still once more and this time neither teen waited before they hurried, darting into the foliage. It wasn’t until he realized where they were going that Keith yelled for Lance to wait.  
“Wait? Oh I don’t think so! I’m not letting some water monster eat me, Keith!”  
“There’s probably worse things in there!” Or, here, since they were now deep in foliage.

 

Fuck. “Uh, where are we?” Lance asked, looking around.  
“I have no clue.” Keith looked down, managing to pull up a map, similar to Pidge’s, but frowned as he began to look around the area. “This thing isn’t detailed enough to give an exact location.” he said, before trying to enlarge the map, though that only seemed to bug it out. “Ugh! Fine! Okay, so we’re roughly in this area,” he pointed to two small dots in a large, dark green portion of the map. “If we go that way, we’ll make it back to the river.”  
“And to Bruce. Thanks, but no thanks.” the Cuban boy crossed his arms.  
“Bruce?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what Spielberg and the crew named the fake shark in Jaws. Bruce.” the black haired boy gave a hum of acknowledgement, his face looking interested in the new fact. A useless fact, but a fact nonetheless. Lance would take that as a point in his favor.

 

“Then…” Keith fell silent as he and Lance stared at the map, trying to figure out the best way to get back up to the rest of their team. “Maybe that way?” he poked at the screen, guiding his finger to mark out a pathway.

“Granted nothing gets in our way, that looks like it’ll be the path of least resistance.” Lance said, crossing his arms, causing the older boy to huff out a laugh.  
“Anything gets in our way, we obviously go through it, too.” he said, smirking before heading off in the path they’d decided on. The taller boy groaned, following after him.  
“I’d like to say, right now, that I really hate this stupid mission.”  
“You and me, both.” Keith muttered.

 

The two fell into an easy silence, keeping close to one another as they periodically checked Keith’s map, making sure they weren’t straying off from where they needed to be. It wasn’t until a sharp, shrill sound cut through the air that they froze. The two Paladins tensed, calling out their bayards and turned towards where the sound had come from. There was a rustling, but nothing seemed to be coming out towards them directly. They exchanged glances and they were definitely _not_ on the same page.  
Lance’s face said: _Let’s get out of here before we’re eaten._  
Keith’s face said: _I’m gonna go look._

 

And in that split second that Lance took to shake his head, Keith had already started to creep forward and Lance was seriously wishing he’d gotten thrown off the cliff with anyone else.  
Hunk would have been too scared to go over there.  
Pidge might have wanted to go out of curiosity, but Lance could probably talk sense into her.  
Allura would agree in that they had no business over there.

 

“Keith!” Lance hissed out, “Can you not just throw yourself into danger? Or is that just hardwired into your DNA?” His hand reached out, grabbing onto the back of the older boy’s armor, causing Keith’s feet to stutter as they tried to move farther than his body was now able to go. It was actually pretty comedic and Lance wished he was recording at that moment. “Do not go towards the creepy noises, that’s like Horror Movie Etiquette 101.”  
“This isn’t a movie, Lance.”  
“No. We’re in the middle of space on a planet of dinosaurs that will eat us. That makes it ten-thousand times worse.” Keith rolled his eyes, but the the two’s bickering was cut short by another shrill cry.  
“It sounds like it’s in trouble.” Keith yanked out of Lance’s hold, and the Cuban boy threw his hands up into the air.  
“Good! Let it be in trouble! It’ll probably eat us first chance it gets! Kei--Keith!!”

 

 

Keith and Lance crept closer to the where the sounds were coming from, peering past the foliage and there, wrapped up in vines, was …. Something fucking massive.  
Okay, not _massive_ , but it was a full head taller than either Lance or Keith. It’s skin was a dark blue, verging on purple in some areas, and seemed to be bipedal. Long, sharp talons jutted out from it’s toes, and a thin tail lashed out behind it as it squirmed. Its neck curved from it’s body, a very bird-like head sitting on top and a snout full of teeth that seemed to be tangled open painfully. A small, pointed tongue could just barely be seen flailing around inside as beady black eyes pinned the two boys down.

“What the fuck?” Lance breathed. “What the _fuck is that_?!”

 

Keith slowly made his way closer to the creature, taking note of what looked like quills and feathers jutting out from the crown of it’s head and down it’s neck, black and looking like an oil slick when the scattered beams of sunlight hit them. A few tufts of down seemed to scatter down its shoulders and arms, stopping at its elbows with more feathers decorating there. The creature gave out another sharp sound, piercing the air as it thrashed more.  
“Hey, hey,” Keith’s bayard had been put away and he held his hands up, empty, causing Lance to give out a distressed sound. “It’s okay, fella. I’m not gonna hurt you.”  
“Keith, that _fella_ will hurt _you_! Get back over here and let’s go!”

“Lance, it’s stuck.” Keith didn’t take his eyes off the creature in front of him. “Aren’t you, fella? I’ll get you out of there. It’s okay.”  
“Keith, that is a fucking _dinosaur_ , not a cat!” However the slow, gentle speech did seem to be having an effect on the dinosaur as it began to calm down. “What the fuck? Are you a dino-whisperer?”

“That’s it.” Keith gently raised his hand, hovering it over the dinosaur’s snout. Even through the fabric of the glove, he could feel the heat as the dinosaur huffed and sniffed. A low gurgling click came from it’s throat as it settled and Keith moved slowly, tugging at a few of the vines. “That’s good. Easy.” He frowned, carefully reaching back for his Marmora knife, making sure to keep his motions slow. Even still, once he was armed the creature gave a loud, shrill cry and began to squirm. “No! No! It’s okay! It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you!”

 

“Keith, get away from it!” Lance called out, keeping his rifle trained on the dinosaur. “This is _exactly_ like the opening to Jurassic Park! You know, where the guy gets _fucking eaten by a velociraptor_?”

 

Lance was not surprised when Keith ignored him and managed to get his knife between one of the vines and the dinosaur, cutting it.

 

A few more vines were cut, Keith having a hard time trying not to hurt the dinosaur, but soon it seemed he’d gotten loose enough that he was able to rip free of the other vines. The dinosaur swung his head, knocking it into Keith’s shoulder and sending the Black Paladin to the ground with a thud, his blade falling out of his hand and bouncing out of reach. His eyes widened as the dinosaur swerved, curving it’s neck to knock out some of the vines in it’s mouth before zeroing in on the prone paladin. Keith began to curse, scrambling up onto his elbows to try and get out of the way as the dinosaur charged.


	3. Kids Get Scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a very stressful afternoon and everyone needs a vacation.  
> Also an update from the Castle!

Keith was aware of a lot of things in a very short amount of time.

Firstly, Keith was aware of the fact that he was scared. He’d been afraid before. He was afraid when he first was put into the foster care system after his father vanished. He’d been afraid when yet another family had been overheard saying they couldn’t handle him, deal with him. He’d been afraid when he enrolled in the Garrison, fragile dreams of reaching the stars and being something greater than himself cradled close and guarded like a dragon’s hoard. He’d been afraid when Takashi Shirogane had lifted off, the fear of not being able to truly know if his brother would be okay until he came back to Earth. He’d been afraid when Shiro vanished on Kerberos. He’d been afraid after he punched Iverson and was booted from the Garrison, not knowing where he’d be able to go from there until he found the small, abandoned shack and made it his own.  
He’d been afraid when Lance shot the five of them into space, being chased by an alien warship and flung through a wormhole. Countless times he’d felt fear when fighting the Galra, a heavy feeling in his chest and a whisper in the back of his head as he went into battle of _this may be the last fight_.

Keith had felt fear before, but looking up at a creature that was all teeth and claws charging at you is a fear that locks you up. Fight or flight were at war, and neither seemed to want to relent in giving him something to do, and left him nearly paralyzed as his hands desperately grasped around him for something, _anything_ to defend himself with. Or to hold. To ground him.

 

Secondly, Keith was aware of Lance’s voice, shouting out his name. That one wasn’t surprising, Lance had been shouting at him for a while, now. Maybe Keith should have really listened, Lance gave good advice. Shame that Keith very seldom listened to him.  
Wait. Was that a song? He swears he heard that line somewhere.  
_Focus_!  
Lance was shouting at him, shouting his name. He was acutely aware of that. As well as the sound of a laser blast going off. _Pew_. (He would not get into this fight. Lance could say _pow pow pow_ all he wanted, but lasers went _pew pew pew_.)

 

Lastly, he was aware of claws. Claws catching on one of his legs and then a foot knocking him backwards as it landed on his chest. He felt the air in his lungs wheeze out of him and saw stars when his head collided with the ground. He was dazed, briefly, his brain reeling with thoughts of _this is it. I’m dead. This is me dying on a planet by a dinosaur_.

 

And then it was gone. The pressure on his body was gone, his eyes flashed open and he caught just the tail of the dinosaur as it raced off into the trees, clicking and calling out in panic, a few feathers falling off its tail and floating gracefully to the ground. And Keith just laid there, his hands having curled so tightly that he’d yanked out chunks of grass. He felt his heart pounding hard and heavy against his ribs as he remembered how to breathe and took in a great gulp.  
Lance was soon over him, blue eyes wide with worry. “Keith! You okay?” And Keith opened his mouth to respond but his throat wouldn’t work. He gaped like a fish for a few moments before just nodding, willing his hands to relax. He was fine. He wasn’t dead.

 

Holy shit, he’s alive.

 

Lance smiled, laughing weakly and, oh. Keith said that out loud. “You sure did, buddy.” Damn, okay he’ll just shut up, then. The Red Paladin held out a hand and Keith flopped his own weakly, scowling as he chided his motor skills until he managed to connect with Lance’s arm, and with his help got back up to his feet. His legs wobbled and he grunted, falling into the Cuban’s chest, hands reaching up to grab onto the armor on Lance’s chest. “You good?” the taller boy asked, arms coming around him instinctively, gently holding him in place.  
“I hate this planet.” Keith said, and Lance laughed again. Keith closed his eyes, “Give me a moment.”

 

The two stood for a bit, Lance helping keep Keith upright, before the Black Paladin was able to push himself back and stand on his own. He looked down to himself, his hands going to his leg, relieved that there didn’t seem to be anything too bad. The dinosaur’s claw had torn through the suit, and it was bleeding but it appeared to be a surface cut and looked like it was already starting to slow down. He moved his hand, wiping away some of the blood before sighing. “Let’s… let’s just get to the others and go.”

“You’ll need this.” The black haired boy looked over, seeing Lance kneeling down and picking up a red and white object. His helmet. When had that gotten knocked off?  
“Thanks.” Keith placed it back on his head, fingers brushing against the side as he checked the coms again. Still nothing.

 

“You think the water damaged them?” Lance asked. “Or maybe the fall?”  
“Probably a mixture of both.” Keith said, looking around before he picked up his Marmora knife and placed it back into it’s holster. “Or maybe something in the air is interfering with them.” He looked back over to Lance, “Either way, we just need to get back to the rest of the team.”

“Well, let’s get our bearings and get back on track.” the Cuban smiled, shouldering his rifle, his free hand wiggling his fingers towards Keith’s arm. “Pull up our handy-dandy map, leader!”

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

“Any luck?” Hunk asked, looking over Pidge’s shoulder, along with Allura, as the youngest of the team seemed to be fiddling with something on her wrist brace. The trio had taken shelter behind a fallen tree, hoping to have enough time to try and figure out a way to contact the two lost Paladins. With a huff, Pidge shook her head.

“Nothing. I hope Coran’s having better luck.” she said, sighing as she threw her head back, staring up at the sky. It was really peaceful in that moment. They could hear the faint sounds of dinosaurs in the distance, foraging for food and calmly roaming around. Above, the sky was clear and blue, a few clouds puffy and lazily floating along, a few daring to pass over the sun, covering the world in a shade for a few precious moments. She closed her eyes, and she could just begin to make herself believe she was back at home, sitting on the roof in the summer sun, her laptop at hand, her brother next to her. She could imagine the two of them talking about space, or computers or just a movie they’d watched recently. She could hear her mother opening a window under them, calling up to them to come down for lunch.

 

But when she opened her eyes, the image was broken. This wasn’t home. And she had to get her present family back together first and foremost.  
“Alright.” Pidge moved, standing back up, feeling herself fill with determination. “Let’s go find Tweedledum and Tweedledee!”

 

“Which one’s Lance?” Hunk asked as he and Allura stood as well. “You know he’s going to want to know.”  
“He’s obviously Dee.” Pidge said, “Keith’s Dumb.” Hunk laughed a big bellied laugh. “And don’t you tell him that. It’ll just feed his ego and nobody needs that.” She smirked, pulling up the map again, looking at it as she tried to figure out where both groups of Paladins were. “Alright, let’s head out! Hunk, keep an eye out for any dinosaurs that get too close to us. I still want to get some data on them, but I’m not about to go wandering around this entire planet playing Land Before Time Bingo.”

 

“You ever stop and think when you say something you never thought you’d say?” Hunk asked as the group began their trek towards the cliffside, Pidge’s map indicating there would be a pathway for them to follow down. “ _Keep an eye out for dinosaurs_ for instance.”  
“Or, _the food goo is attacking_?” Pidge asked, smirking. “Yeah. Space is weird.”

 

“ _Paladins?_ ” Coran’s voice cut through, startling the trio, Allura being the first to recover and respond. “ _I’m afraid I can’t get in touch with either Lance or Keith,_ ” Over their coms there was a low sound. “ _But more to the reason why I called._ ”  
“Coran? Is everything alright?” Allura asked, the group stopping, looking to one another in worry.

“ _Oh, yes! Everything is fine! The castle’s defenses are holding up nicely!_ ” the older Altean was chipper. “ _But, ah, there does seem to be a large congression of these creatures outside. Not to worry! It’s not like they can operate the door!_ ” he laughed good naturedly. “ _I was, however, hoping you all would be able to maybe pick up the pace a smidge?_ ”

“We’ll get Lance and Keith as quickly as possible.” Pidge said, “Just sit tight Coran, hopefully this won’t take too long.”  
“ _Good to hear!_ ” Coran said, relief thick in his voice, “ _I’ll keep in touch with you all!_ ”

 

“Coran… said there was a lot of those things outside the castle.” Hunk said, eyes widening. “Maybe we should head back and clear them?”  
“It’ll take longer to get back to the castle than to keep going ahead towards Lance and Keith.” Pidge said, frowning. “As much as I want to head back, it would be more advantageous to keep going with our first plan. Not to mention the possibility that even more dinosaurs would appear after we clear out the ones already there.”

“Pidge is right.” Allura said, “I’m just as worried as you are, but we have to focus on our mission at hand.”  
“Okay, so find Lance and Keith, get the Jessica Ore then run back to the castle.” Hunk said, ticking off his fingers.

“Right.” Allura chose not to correct Hunk this time.

 

At that moment a low sound reached their ears and everyone jumped, whipping around before ducking. A large creature, like the one that had eaten the Parasaur-notolophus, swooped down. The gust from its wings pressed down on their bodies, before they were able to right themselves. “Guys!” Hunk said, nervously as he and the rest of the Paladins grasped their bayards, all of them forming into their weapons. “I’m starting to not like this planet!”

“Yeah, I’d like to leave without winding up in some dinosaur’s stomach.” Pidge grumbled, squinting up to the flying creature as it swooped elegantly in the sky. “It’s coming back!”  
Hunk steadied himself, angling his bayard and fired off three quick shots, none of them hitting, but it did make the creature veer off course and away from the group. “Pidge, what’s this one?”

“I don’t know!” the shortest Paladin said, her voice pitching upwards. “Okay, Parasaurolophus are my favorite dinosaurs, that’s why I recognized them! Pterosaurs aren’t!” She gave out a sound, seeing the creature come back down in a divebomb. “If Matt was here he’d might know! Those were more his thing!”

“Figure out what to call it when it’s not trying to kill us, please!” Allura shouted, dodging out of the way as the creature gave out a cry, trying to snap it’s beak around the group. Hunk swung his bayard, firing three more shots, each of them hitting its head. The creature gave out a shrill cry, soaring back up into the sky, looking to make another round.

 

“We gotta move for cover!” Pidge shouted, looking around desperately. “Make it lose interest if it can’t get to us.” She gave out a yell, her bayard lashing out, wrapping around one of the creature’s legs to deliver a shock. It worked, but it was flying back up and taking the Green Paladin with it.  
“Pidge!” both Hunk and Allura raced forward, making to grab onto her. They both missed and the tiniest Paladin was airborne, crying out in distress.

“Guys!!” she looked down, feeling her stomach twist and knot up, “No no no no no! Take me back down you overgrown chicken!” she shouted, looking back up to the pterosaur. She tightened her grip on her weapon, sending another electric shock. That only seemed to make the creature angry and soon she was thrown around as the pterosaur spun into an aileron roll, trying to knock her off.  
Pidge gritted her teeth, landing with an _oof_ on the flying monster’s back and grabbed onto a handful of feathers and fluff. She squeezed her eyes closed, whimpering. She cracked open one of her eyes, seeing that she was still in the air, and the creature was still thrashing around.

 

Pidge carefully raised her head and looked around, her mind rushing as she tried to think.  
_What would Keith do?_

 

She had the image of Keith as a bull rider flash into her brain.  
Yep. That’s what he’d do. So with a deep breath she adjusted her grip on the creature’s back, retracting the cord from its leg and threw it around its neck in a makeshift reins, pulling it back once she grabbed onto the other end. “Alright, you!” she grunted, forcing herself into a sitting position. Her stomach did flips and she felt like puking, a flash of her body being thrown from the pterosaur and sent down to the ground went through her head before she shook it away. “Heel!” She yanked back on her reins, and the pterosaur gave out a shrill cry, jerking backwards as a result, before it sent itself into another aileron roll. Pidge squeezed her eyes closed, throwing herself flat against it’s back until it righted itself and tried again. “I said _heel_!”

 

This time the creature bucked forward, plunging towards the ground and she gave out a shriek, quickly letting go of the katar end of her bayard, throwing it to wrap around the cord. She grabbed onto it’s back again and sent out another shock. “Pull up! Pull up pull up pull up pull up!” she tugged back, but saw the treeline coming in fast. Her eyes flicked around nervously, she vaguely could make out both Hunk and Allura rushing after her and her runaway steed, and came up with a gameplan worthy of Keith.

She needed a better role model.

 

She retracted her bayard, forcing herself to relax and began to count slowly. She only had one shot, a short window where she could do this and not end up horribly mangled. Her stomach tumbled and she felt herself lock up with nerves, but once she was the right distance away she closed her eyes and let go of the pterosaur.

 

She was aware of the fact that she fell from the creature, and that she shot out her bayard towards one of the trees, pulling herself close to it, but it all felt like it was someone else she was watching do these things. Her stomach felt like it had dropped with the creature, hearing it crash into the trees. The tree she’d lassoed shook, and she gripped tight her weapon, feeling her gut land painfully against one of the branches.  
She then proceeded to throw up, her limbs shaking as she clutched the branch, her nerves finally catching up to her and the fact that she _actually did that holy shit_. She let out the sob that had been caught in her throat since the start of her airborne adventure and closed her eyes. It was only when she heard Hunk and Allura below her that she was able to slowly pull herself into a sitting position and look over herself. She was fine.

“Pidge! Are you alright?” Allura asked, Hunk already in the process up climbing up after her.

Her hands felt sore. Her body was shaking. Her heart was still pounding loudly in her chest and she felt the burn in her throat and needed to blow her nose. She peered over when she heard Hunk on the branch below her, blinking owlishly down to him.  
“Pidge?” he asked, gently, reaching out a hand towards her.

 

“I just threw up.” why did she say that? He didn’t need to know that. C’mon brain, wake up! She swallowed, grimacing at the scratchy feeling. Hunk noticed how badly she was trembling.

“I throw up all the time.” Hunk said, smiling to her. “It’s okay.” He reached closer to her, and Pidge only took a couple seconds more before she remembered that she had to reach back, allowing herself to be drawn into Hunk’s body. She wrapped her arms and legs around him in a koala cling, burying her face into his shoulder, ignoring how the pieces of armor sounded when they clashed together and poked and jabbed into her awkwardly. She closed her eyes, listening as Hunk talked her through a breathing exercise and by the time they’d touched back down on the ground she had stopped shaking.

“I never want to do that again.” she said, managing a smile as Hunk laughed, gently patting her back. She felt Allura draw closer and soon felt herself embraced in a group hug.

 

They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Pidge finally complained that she needed to blow her nose and get the gross smell out of there.

 

It was while Pidge was complaining loudly about the smell as she cleaned out her nose that Coran contacted them again.

 

“ _Ah, Paladins!_ ” Coran’s voice seemed strained, “ _I’ve made quite the discovery!_ ”

“What’s that?” Allura asked, frowning slightly.

“ _The creatures_ can _in fact operate the doors!_ ” There was a loud sound, like a crash, Coran shouting out insults before the coms went quiet.

 

“Well fuck.” Pidge spoke after a moment, everyone looking to one another with worry.


	4. They Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A familiar face shows up. And it's brought friends for the Black and Red Paladins.

“We have to get back to the castle!” Allura snapped, already making a beeline back to where they’d come from, her pace quickening. “Coran is in trouble!”

“Allura wait!” Pidge raced after her, having to run twice as fast to reach the princess, but Hunk had managed to make it there before her and was already in the process of calming her down.  
“Allura, I know you’re worried, but we have to find Lance and Keith.”

“Lance and Keith can take care of themselves!” Allura shouted, “Coran is alone in the castle and there’s no telling how many of these… these _things_ are running amok inside!” She was already in tears, “Now let me pass I have to go help him!”

 

“Allura, Coran will be fine!” Pidge said when she finally caught up. “Hunk and I helped to program a new security feature in case the castle was broken into.”  
“Right.” Hunk said, smiling, “Coran was with us as we programmed it. He’s probably already activated it and is already watching those dino-dweebs get thrown out of the castle as we speak.”

“But,” the princess frowned, taking in a shaky breath. “But he’s all alone. What if something happens to him?”  
“Coran’s smart. And crazy strong, if you’re anything to go by. We’ve seen you throw Shiro around like he’s a used Kleenex.” Pidge said, placing a hand on the princess’s arm. “He’ll contact us if he really needs us back.”

 

Allura’s body seemed to relax as she drew in a breath. “You… you’re right.” she said, closing her eyes. “Coran is strong. I have to have faith in him, as he has faith in me being a paladin.” she moved her hands, wiping at her eyes. She turned to the other two, managing a small, shaky smile. “Let’s go get our friends.”

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

 

“You’ve _got_ to be fucking kidding me!” Lance shouted, he and Keith hunkered down behind a fallen tree, their shields out as a familiar face spat more acid at the two. The wound on the Dilopho-notasaurus had stopped bleeding but looked gross.

What's more, is the little asshole brought friends. And with four of them spitting acid at the two, they had little to no choice but to wait for an opportunity to strike.

“I should have killed you!” the Cuban boy shouted, glaring at the creature, who hissed out in response, gurgling before hocking another ball of acid directly at him.  
“Stop antagonizing the dinosaur!” Keith yelled, “I’m pretty sure he can understand you and he’s not happy with you taunting him!”

 

“It’s a brainless, stupid, ugly turkey!” Lance shouted, instead. “You hear that?! _You’re a fucking turkey!_ ” He yelped, tensing as another acid loogie was spat at him.  
“Lance you’re pissing them off!” Keith whined out, gritting his teeth.

 

“We need to find an opening,” Lance muttered under his breath, eyes narrowed at the creatures who were steadily getting closer. “If I could get just a few seconds I could pop a couple of them.”  
“I can try and cause a diversion to get their attention.” Keith offered, his body already shifting to move, but Lance threw his hand out, grabbing onto the back of his collar.  
“Or, you can not. That’s a good idea.”

“That’s a stupid idea.” Keith said, narrowing his eyes at the Red Paladin. “Lance we can’t just sit here! They’re getting closer and with four of them I don’t think we’re going to be able to fight them off.”

Lance groaned, biting down on his lip as he looked back out to the dinosaurs, reaching for his bayard and gripping it tight. His eyes traveled around, before spying a branch above the group. “Okay. If you can keep me covered I might be able to shoot down a branch. That might cause enough of a distraction for us to charge them.”

“Are you sure?” Keith’s eyes followed Lance’s, frowning. “What if they regroup faster than we can attack?”  
“We don’t have that many options. I doubt we’ll be getting the calvary any time soon.”

 

The Black Paladin frowned, but moved closer to Lance, hunching in a way to keep both him and Lance covered by his shield. “I’ve got you covered.” he said, and the taller boy smiled, lowering his own shield and swung his rifle around, aiming it high.  
“Get ready, samurai.” he said, taking in a steadying breath, his eyes flicking between the group of acid spitting dinosaurs and the branch. Once the group got in just the right position Lance squeezed the trigger. With a _pow_ the laser blast shot forward, connecting with it’s target and the branch fell quickly.

 

The group of Dilopho-notasaurus gave out startled cries as they scattered, one poor bastard not moving in time and was pinned under the heavy branch. The remaining three hissed out and the two Paladins were on the move.

Lance stayed back, swinging his gun down, lining up his sight on one of the dinos that had jumped out of the way with another, and with a strangled cry it fell, blood spurting out from its throat.  
Keith charged forward, his bayard out and the Dilopho-notasaurus that he was after had become distracted by it’s fallen comrade. The creature seemed to hear the Paladin coming and whipped its head around, jumping back as Keith swung forward, the tip of his blade cutting into its chest. The dinosaur hissed out, a low gurgle sounding as its body hunched forward dangerously. Keith threw up his shield in time to block to loogie, before swinging around again and managing to strike true. The bayard sunk into the dinosaur’s neck and there was a horrible sound, blood bubbling as it tried to cry out in pain, before it fell to the side, twitching before finally stilling.

 

That only left the last one. The one that Lance had shot at when they first landed. Turkey, as Lance decided its name was, hissed out, seemingly distressed that its posse was gone, and whipped its tail. It lowered its head, hissing out and began to charge. Lance kept his rifle trained, taking a breath to take another shot while Keith braced himself, reading his sword to strike.

Neither of them needed to bother. A large mass came crashing through the trees and Turkey was quickly pinned by two powerful feet, black talons sinking into its side. It hissed and thrashed around, eyes wide. A low gurgle sounded before a set of jaws clamped down on it’s throat.

The two Paladins stared in awe and horror as the blue-purple dinosaur from before easily bit through the meat of the Dilopho-notasaurus’s neck, talons digging into its side. Once Turkey had stilled, the dinosaur gave out a sharp trill, before digging it’s snout into the fallen creature’s side, pulling out chunks of meat and ate.

 

“Uh,” Lance found his voice before Keith, “is that…”  
“That’s the same dinosaur from before.” the Black Paladin said, “Isn’t it?” his eyes trailed, watching as the creature ate, before its head jerked over, staring Keith down. Once more Keith found his limbs locking in place, but this time he was able to quickly shake himself and pulled up his shield, holding it protectively between himself and the creature. Out the corner of his eye, he could see Lance take up a position, training his rifle on the dinosaur, ready to shoot.

 

The dinosaur blinked slowly, looking at Keith, and turned its body fully facing him. He didn’t move much after that, and Lance watched as the two had a staring contest. “Uh, Keith?”  
Keith didn’t take his eyes off the creature. “What?”  
“What’s it doing?”  
“I… have no clue.” the Black Paladin’s eyebrows drew tight together, but he took a cautious step closer. The dinosaur gave a warning growl, and Keith quickly took a couple steps back.

 

A few more seconds passed, before the dinosaur lowered its body slightly, balancing itself more horizontal than before, and took a slow, careful step closer. Lance sucked in a breath and readied his gun. “Lance,” Keith said, hissed through clenched teeth.  
“If that thing tries anything, I’m popping it right in the skull.” the Red Paladin said, eyes fixed on keeping his target. “I’m not going to let you become Dino Chow.”

 

Keith felt a smile pull at his lips, but said nothing more, trusting Lance to save him if something happened.

 

The dinosaur took a few more slow steps closer, and Keith noticed that, in the way it had lowered itself it was now eye-to-eye with him. Keith squared his shoulders, feeling his knuckles turn white as he gripped tight his bayard.  
The dinosaur stopped, cocking its head to one side.

 

Well, that… that’s kind of cute. Kind of really cute. Be even cuter if it wasn’t covered in blood right now.

 

Keith slowly, hesitantly, retracted his shield, hearing Lance mutter something in Spanish. He looked up into the dinosaur’s eyes, and slowly moved his hand forward. The dinosaur craned its neck closer, and sniffed at Keith’s hand. Its eyes flicked up towards Keith, and Keith could see that they weren’t beady and black like he’d first thought. They were amber, bright and intelligent.

 

“It remembers me.” he whispered. “It remembers us, Lance. It… it helped us.” He watched in awe as the dinosaur nudged his hand, before pulling back, straightening back to its full height.  
“Okay,” Lance said, his gun still trained on a kill target, “So what? Is it going to help us now, or was this a _you helped me, I helped you, now we’re even_ kind of thing where next time it sees us it’ll try and kill us?”

 

“I… I don’t think it’s going to hurt us.” Keith said, his own bayard retracting into its hilt. He slowly moved his hand to lock it away, before holding up both of his hands, free of any danger. “Hey, fella.”  
The dinosaur chirped, lowering its head once more, sniffing at Keith’s hands. It leaned forward, nipping at his fingers and Keith felt himself tense out of reflex, before realizing that the dinosaur was not about to take one of them as a snack. “Yeah, I think he’s friendly.”

 

“You sure?”  
“Lance, he could have attacked me right then.” he flicked his eyes, briefly, over to Lance, before looking back towards the dinosaur in front of him. The creature chirped again, his head moving over to Lance as well.  
“So…. we got a pet dino?” Lance asked, still feeling uneasy. “Keith, we can’t keep him in the castle. I don’t think we’ll find any Dino Potty Pads and as much as you want it, I doubt you’re willing to clean up droppings.”

 

“Maybe he’ll at least help us get out of here.” the Black Paladin said, looking up to the dinosaur. “Hey, fella,” the dinosaur’s head swung back towards Keith. “Can you help get us up there?” he pointed up towards the cliff. “Our friends are up there. We need to go find them.”

The dinosaur looked up, cocking its head to one side before a trill came from its throat.  
“Is that a yes?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow, watching as the creature stepped around Keith, stopping to look back to the two.

 

“I think so?” Keith said, looking over to Lance. The two shared a shrug, before following after the dinosaur. “I’m calling him Fluffy.”  
“You are _not_ getting naming dibs!”  
“I’m the one who rescued him!”

Fluffy chirped in front of them, trilling as he looked back towards the two Paladins.  
“See? He agrees with me.”  
“I’m pretty sure that was the sound of _I’m a giant killer dinosaur, and you’re naming me Fluffy?!_ ” Lance muttered. “Source: _you’re naming a giant killer dinosaur Fluffy_!”

Fluffy chirped again, his feathers fluffing as the three continued to walk.

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

 

“Coran hasn’t contacted us,” Allura said, her fingers fidgeting with her bayard. “I should have gone back to the castle.”  
“Allura, even if we let you go back by yourself, there’s no telling if you would have made it back without running into one of these dinosaurs.” Hunk said, looking over to her.  
“He’s right.” Pidge looked up to her. “He’s probably caught up trying to get in contact with Lance and Keith. Or maybe whatever’s keeping us from contacting those two is now affecting our communications with Coran.”

 

Allura’s frown only deepened, “All the more reason why I should have gone back.” She looked over her shoulder as the three walked along the pathway, having made it to the cliffside and saw the easy way down. As opposed to being thrown off the side like Lance and Keith had (presumably) been.  
“We’re even farther from the castleship now,” the shortest Paladin said, looking down to her map. “Just relax, Allura.” She smiled, pointing to a spot where a two red and blue dots were, “We’re close to them.” She raised her hand to her helmet. “Lance? Keith? Do you copy?”

 

There was static and not much else. “Ugh.” she pouted, before looking back to the other two, who seemed to have had the same luck she did, both shaking their heads. “Alright. Well we at least know they’re close, so that’s a plus.”  
“So, uh,” Hunk frowned, “silly question. But how do we know that the signal we’re tracking is actually them and not oh, I don’t know, a dinosaur that ate them?”

 

Pidge tensed up, before wheeling around on her heel, “They’re not eaten!” she snapped, though it sounded like she was telling herself more than him. She could already feel the cold grip of fear circle around her heart and lungs, making her breathing hitch. “They’re fine, okay?! They’re fine and we’re going to find them, then we’re going to get the ore and go back to the castleship where Coran is fine! And everyone is going to be fine!” she became aware of how wet her face was and scrubbed at her cheeks. “Don’t… don’t think like that, okay?”  
Hunk frowned, wincing slightly, “Sorry,” he muttered, “I just… I’m worried about them, Pidge. And when I get worried my brain goes ninety-to-nothing and I get like Lance where I start spewing out my thoughts.”

 

“It’s okay.” she said, finding her boots very interesting. “I’m sorry I snapped. I’m… I just don’t want to lose anyone else in my family.” Her words felt thick in her throat, but she cleared her throat, sniffing. “When we find them, I’m telling them that you made me cry.”

Hunk gave out a gasp, “You wouldn’t!”  
“I would!” Pidge raised her head, smirking, “Lance will probably be all dramatic about it, and Keith will probably get all big brothery.”  
“You hate when he gets big brothery.” he pointed out, causing the youngest to shrug.

 

“We haven’t seen them in so long, I think I miss it.”

 

Allura cleared her throat, bringing the two to attention. “I hate to burst the parade,” she said, “but we really should get moving if we want to find Lance and Keith. Unless we want another one of those… tearing-sores finding us.”  
“One, I think you just made a malaphor, so kudos!” Pidge said, smiling, “Two, they’re called pterosaurs, but what you said was close enough so I’m not going to really press that issue.”  
“And three, I agree with Allura, so let’s go.” Hunk added.

 

The group made it down, Pidge pulling up the map again and stared. “Okay, we’re close.” she said, turning slowly before raising her hand and pointed into the thick of the trees. “They’re in there.”  
“There?” Hunk asked, nervously. “There’s probably, like, a lot of dinosaurs in there.”

“Hunk, there’s a lot of dinosaurs everywhere.” Pidge leveled a look to her friend. “I mean, we can wait out here, but there’s no telling how long it’ll take them to get out here. It’ll be faster to go in and find them.”  
“It’ll be fine, Hunk.” Allura said, smiling, “We stick together and we’ll make it through.”

 

Hunk fidgeted again before he sighed. “I hate when you two are right.” he muttered. “I just… I have a bad feeling about in there.” He raised his head, looking at how high the trees were. They nearly reached the top of the cliff they’d just walked down.  
A cliff that was eighteen meters high. Give or take. He shuddered. “There’s no telling what’s in there.”

 

“We know one thing.” Pidge said, “Our friends are in there.”

 

And that was good enough for Hunk, who followed the other two into the thick of it.


	5. Please, Chance It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can the Paladins meet back up, finally, and get the ore?  
> Starring Fluffy, the bestest Dinosaur ever!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of eye-gore, if you want to avoid me mentioning that don't read from "There was a pained howl" to "Lance fired his shot".

“You know,” Lance said huffing as he swatted at a bug that had flown into his face, “I’m beginning to question our sanity for following a dinosaur.”  
“Fluffy knows where to go.” Keith said, and the Red Paladin gave a noise. “I’m not calling him anything else, Lance. Deal with it.”

 

“We could call him something cool! Like Talon! Or or Brutus!” the taller boy waved his hand around. “Or something refined like Rhett Butler!”  
“Rhett Butler is too long a name.” the older boy stopped and looked back to Lance, raising an eyebrow.  
“Rhett Butler is a perfectly fine name.” Lance shook his head, “But all this is beside the point. Yes, he seems like he understands us, but we don’t know how smart these creatures are, Keith.”

 

Keith turned fully, pointing back from where they came. “Lance, that Dilopho-notasaurus brought in reinforcements to take us out.” he said. “It recognized us as the ones that attacked it and came back for revenge.” He then moved his hand towards the larger dinosaur, who had stopped a bit in front of them, eyes blinking curiously. “Fluffy here remembered us saving him and helped us from getting our asses melted off.” On cue, the dinosaur in question chirped. “And he knows when we’re talking about him! These things are smart!”

“Yes, but counterpoint.” Lance pointed, “Elephants recall where nice humans are. They’ve been known to show up where doctors are when they’re injured and in need of help. They remember their dead and mourn. But if you asked them for directions they wouldn’t know what the hell you’re saying.”

“Okay, counterpoint to your counterpoint.” Keith said, crossing his arms. “There was an elephant that was smart enough to recognize itself in a mirror and draw a self portrait.”

“An elephant Picasso is not conclusive to the whole species!” the taller boy pouted, “The point of the matter is, Fluffy could be smart enough to understand us, understand that we’re good humans who helped him, but that’s probably it. We don’t know if he really is leading us out or in deeper.”

Keith rolled his eyes, moving to bring up his map. “I’ve been keeping track, Lance.” he said, gesturing to the holo image, “We’re getting closer to the edge of the woods.”  
“That could still genuinely be coincidence.”

 

“Coincidence or not, following Fluffy hasn’t gotten us lost.” the Black Paladin said, “If we start going off course I’ll be sure to let you know.”  
“I reserve the right to gloat and say _I told you so_ until my heart’s content.”

“You can say it twice.” Keith said, narrowing his eyes.  
“Five.”  
“Three.”  
“Deal.” Lance crossed his arms, watching as Keith turned back towards the dinosaur, who had been watching the two with interest.

 

“Sorry about that, Fluffy.” the black haired boy said, “Lead on.”

 

The dinosaur tilted his head to one side, trilling, but after a few long moments, he turned and began to walk once more, leading the two Paladins along.

“Bartholomew.”  
“His name is Fluffy, now drop it!”

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

“We’re getting closer.” Pidge said, excited. She began to smile wide, seeing that the two blips on her map were nearly overlapping her own, Hunk’s and Allura’s.  
“Oh man, I hope they’re both okay.” Hunk said, “I mean, I can carry one of them, but definitely not both.”  
“I’ll be able to carry them both if need be.” Allura said, smiling as the three continued on. They heard footsteps and stopped, looking up as Pidge put the map away.

 

They expected many things; they expected to find Lance and Keith smiling to the group, Lance cracking a joke. They expected one or the other injured, either from the fall or from some creature they had to fight, or both injured and each supporting the other as they trekked through the trees. Maybe they expected one to be unconscious, the other carrying him.

 

None of them expected a large creature to push through the bushes, its face and body smeared red with blood. The three froze, eyes wide in horror as the creature turned its head towards them.  
“No.” Hunk whimpered out, but it was Allura who acted first, her whip transformed and lashing out at the dinosaur, crying out in rage. Her whip wrapped around the creature’s neck and she pulled it forward, causing the dinosaur to cry out in distress as it was knocked off balance and forced down onto the ground. It squirmed, flailing as it tried to right itself, but Pidge was already on it, wrapping her bayard around one of its legs and sending a shock to it.

 

Hunk had powered up his weapon, ready to fire on the beast who dared kill and eat their friends when a pair of frantic voices came from the bush.  
“Fluffy!”  
“Rico Suave!”

 

The group turned and the two lost Paladins burst through the foliage, their own weapons drawn. “Alright, you sons of bitches, let the dino go!” Lance stopped, lowering his weapon when he saw who they were. “Uh… okay, the sons of bitches line was uncalled for, but to be fair we thought you were dinosaurs out to kill our child.” he was cut off when Hunk was on top of him, his arms wrapping around both he and Keith, lifting them into the air in a crushing hug. Lance could feel his spine pop. “Hunk!”

“You guys are alive! You’re okay! You weren’t eaten by a carnivore and we aren’t going to find you in multiple dinosaur piles!”  
“Hunk, I can’t breathe.” Lance wheezed, flailing one arm and trying to pat his friend’s shoulder.  
“We’re glad to see you, too.” Keith added, and both Paladins gasped in air once they were set on the ground, only to quickly be tackled by Pidge, her tiny arms barely managing to engulf them both in a hug. Allura was behind her, joining in on the impromptu group hug, spurring Hunk to embrace them again, calmer this time.

 

Behind them, the dinosaur slowly got back to its feet, chirping and drawing their attention. In an instant, Hunk, Pidge and Allura were ready to fight, but Lance and Keith quickly put themselves between the group. “Whoa whoa whoa!” the Red Paladin said, “He’s good! He’s friendly! Balthazaar is a good dinosaur.”  
“Balthazaar?” Pidge raised an eyebrow, and Keith turned to glare at him.

“His name is Fluffy.” he said, and Pidge was shocked that he was able to say that with a straight face.  
“You can not name a killer dinosaur Fluffy! It’s inhumane!” the Cuban waved his hands around, pointing back to the dinosaur who seemed to be patiently staring at the two. “How about Melchior?”

“No.”  
“Gathaspar?”  
“No-- Why are you trying to name him after the Three Kings?!” Keith threw his hands into the air.  
“Because they’re better names _than Fluffy_!” Lance shrieked. “I know kid Keith is probably gushing over having his pet dinosaur, but adult Keith has to know that Fluffy is a stupid name!”

“He’s fluffy!” Keith gestured to the dinosaur. “Why wouldn’t I call him that?!”  
“That’s like having a pet cat that’s black and naming it Midnight! There’s no creativity!”  
“It doesn’t have to be creative, I’m calling him Fluffy!”

 

Fluffy chirped, and Keith crossed his arms, “See? He agrees with me.”  
“No, he’s saying _I don’t want to be named Fluffy, I’m not some teacup chihuahua_!”

 

“Alright, alright, break it up!” Pidge said, though was smiling. “I’m glad that you two are well enough to argue about pointless things.”  
“Fluffy is not pointless, Pidge.”  
“Having a name that’s not embarrassing is not pointless, Pidge!”  
“But we need to find that ore and get back to the castleship.” the shortest Paladin finished, “We lost contact with Coran, and he said there were a bunch of dinosaurs around the ship.”  
“He also said that they had managed to enter the castle as well.” Allura said, frowning. “We need to get back quickly.”

 

And that was how the naming conventions of a dinosaur was quickly dropped.

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

The group had managed to skirt around the trees, making it to the river once more. Lance already having his rifle out and keeping it trained on the water, mumbling about _Nessie won’t eat me_ , the others carefully looking around. Soon Pidge called out, pointing ahead to a source of the Jesrupil Ore. “Found it!”

 

The Ore vein easily stood out against the egg-shell colored stones, being that it was a dark color and almost luminescent. The group slowly got to work on mining it, Allura doing most of said work since Lance and Keith both seemed wary of the water, and Pidge and Hunk were wary of Fluffy, who was keeping close to the two former Paladins.

 

“You know, if you just took a picture here like this,” Lance said, “you’d think this was a nice vacation spot.”  
“Yeah.” Keith muttered, adjusting his hold on his bayard, “Blue skies, blue water.”  
“Dinosaurs.” the Red Paladin smirked, looking over to the dinosaur next to them. “Isn’t that right, Godot?”

Fluffy trilled and Keith let out a sigh.  
“Lance.” he turned his head, glaring at the taller boy, who laughed.

 

The dinosaur gave out a sharp cry, and everyone’s attention shifted. The water was rippling and sent both Keith and Lance into attention, readying their stances. Lance raised his rifle, training it on the water. “We got company.”

“Maybe it was a fish?” Hunk offered, nervously pointing his own weapon to the water. “A cute, friendly little fish.”

 

With a loud splash a creature’s head shot out of the water, long snout full of teeth as it propelled forward like it’d been shot out of a canon. “That is _not_ a fish!” Pidge yelped, Lance and Hunk already firing at the creature.

 

The river monster let out a growl, diving back down into the water, and everyone held their breaths, eyes dancing across the surface to try and see where it’d come up again.

“Maybe we chased it off?” Pidge said, slowly, swallowing thickly. Another splash, however, proved they had not and the creature was diving onto the land, stout legs with webbed toes digging into the sand as it reared its head up and towards the Green Paladin. She gave out a cry, her legs quickly pushing her back and a large mass jumped onto the creature.

“Fluffy!” Keith yelped, watching as the dinosaur’s claws dug into the back of the river beast, but the monster’s head whipped around, snapping. It managed to grab onto Fluffy’s tail and with a jerk, the blue-purple creature was thrown onto his back. He flailed around, righting himself as he went back into the fight, hissing and trilling, scratching into the other monster’s hide.

 

Lance gritted his teeth, training his rifle, “He needs to get out of the way,” he mumbled, “I can’t get a clear shot.”  
There was a pained howl as one of Fluffy’s claws found purchase on the river monster’s face, and its eye was scratched. Thick black blood pooled out as the monster shook its head, sending Fluffy back to the ground. It surged forward, grabbing onto one of the dinosaur’s legs. A disgusting crunch followed by a loud wail.

 

Lance fired his shot, hitting the side of the river monster, causing it to let go and turn its attention to the rest of the paladins. Keith growled out, surging forward with his weapon, meeting the monster half way as he swung his blade. It cut into the creature, causing a gash in its side. Lance and Hunk were already firing upon it, trying to either kill it or send it back into the water, Pidge and Allura hanging back, ready to strike if it got any closer.

Fluffy had stumbled back onto his feet, hissing as he lunged forward, jumping onto the monster’s back, digging his claws in once more. He lowered his head, grabbing onto it’s neck, trying to bite through the tough skin.

 

The the river monster bellowed, lashing his tail out and knocking Keith into the water. Lance gave out a started cry, quickly racing forward to grab the Black Paladin, not wanting him in there for long, not when they didn’t know what else was in the water.

 

The monster then jerked its body, rolling into the water and taking the blue-purple dinosaur with it. “Fluffy!” Keith gasped out, scrambling around him as he tried to find his dropped weapon. He managed to grab it, but by the time he was already racing forward the two creatures had dropped below the surface, leaving behind only ripples and a few black feathers floating on the water.

 

The group froze, watching in horror, Keith silently pleading for the dinosaur to resurface, knee deep in monster infested waters. He begged and prayed for the dinosaur to win and come back. A child Keith was imagining Fluffy breaking through the water, majestically, getting back onto the surface no worse for wear. A strong proud warrior victorious. A child Keith was jumping excitedly, wrapping his arms around Fluffy’s neck, calling him a good dinosaur. _The bestest dinosaur ever!_

 

Adult Keith knew that Fluffy wasn’t going to resurface. Fluffy had the disadvantage underwater. Fluffy wasn’t going to come back up.

 

And Fluffy never did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. Really.  
> I cried, if that helps?
> 
> I heavily debated having everything be the same but they have a new dinosaur pet.  
> But this was planned to happen when I started writing it.
> 
> Fluffy will be missed.


	6. You Feel That?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group are safe, if not reeling from the loss of a new friend, but planet Oria has one last dinosaur to throw at them before they can leave.  
> And it's huge.

The team was silent, Lance managing to slowly pull Keith out of the water, away from the river, and sat him down next to where the Jesrupil Ore was being mined.  
Quietly, Allura and Pidge got back to work, Hunk taking up watch on the water, but nothing else seemed to resurface.

 

Lance looked over to Keith, who was sitting on the ground, legs bent and head lowered. He frowned, racking his brain for something to say. _Anything_.

“Fluffy was kind of a dumb name, huh?” Keith’s voice sounded rough, broken. Lance never wanted to hear it sound like that again. “He was a dinosaur, not a pet. He deserved a better name.”

“I personally would have called him Charlemagne.” Lance’s mouth blerted without consulting with his brain. Keith gave a sound, like a cross between a snort and a sob, and the taller boy placed a hand on his back. “Keith.”

“I’ll be okay.” Keith slowly raised his head, rubbing his hand over his face, pushing back his tears. He leaned his body into the touch, and Lance smiled softly.

 

“That’s all the ore we’ll need.” Allura’s voice came over them as she stood, slinging a bag over her shoulder, hooking the strap across her chest. “Let’s hurry and get back to the castle.”  
“Keith, buddy?” Hunk asked, watching as their leader slowly got to his feet. “Are you going to be okay?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith sniffled quietly, straightening his back, but relaxed when Pidge stepped closer, holding up an object. It was black and smooth, but reflected like an oil slick in the light. “This was the cleanest one.” she said, watching as the Black Paladin carefully took the feather, twirling it slowly between his fingers. “Any others were too damaged or wet and I figured--”

“Thank you, Pidge.” Keith smiled, looking down to the youngest of the team. She smiled back before turning, no one saying a word as Keith carefully put the feather away in one of the pouches on his belt.

 

Then they heard it. Or rather, felt it. A tremor that seemed to reverberate through the air and pierce into their spines. They all shuddered and looked around. “Uh,” Hunk was the first to speak up, “what was that?”  
Another tremor, sounding and feeling closer. The group circled and began to look around, bayards out and at the ready. “It wasn’t a raptor.” Keith said, eying the area.  
“You think it came from the water?” Allura asked, but Lance shook his head, his gaze whipping to the river.  
“No way, that sounds way too big for something in there.” he said.

“So what is it?” Pidge asked, her voice laced with worry as the tremors grew louder. They pressed closer together, knuckles white as they clung to their weapons, ready for whatever was about to happen.

 

No one was ready. They caught movement in the trees and tensed, eyes narrowed as Keith raised up his shield, ready to deflect any attack. The attack never came.  
They watched as the trees shook, leaves falling as the tremors grew louder, dread pooling in their stomachs as they saw a tree trunk shudder and move. Raise up and come closer. Black claws were on three toes, glistening even though there was dirt coating the very tips. Leathery brown skin stretched and wrapped around muscle. The five Paladins slowly raised their heads, following the curve of the leg up to a body. Large and round, splotched with red and yellows and greens that had effectively camouflaged it in the trees, but now made the thing imposing as it came into view, a thick tail full of mass swung behind it, hitting and knocking over a tree with ease. A thin cape of fluff seemed to wrap around its back, stopping just before the massive tail, and crawled up, thinning as it circled around its thick neck. Even under the cape, the team could make out the scars from the many battles the creature had been in and won. Up, up higher still were large amber eyes, pupils narrowed to slits as the creature huffed out a breath through its nostrils, another tremor pulling from its throat, its mouth barely moving, but they could see rows of sharp teeth regardless. The crown on the creature was deep red, flaring back as it reached the top of its head, starbursting out in five points. It finally opened its mouth, saliva dripping to the ground as it let out another growl, low and rumbling.

 

It wasn’t roaring, but that just made it that much scarier.

 

“Guys,” Lance whispered, his eyes as wide as the others, “is… is that…” The creature turned its head to the group before raising its head higher, another tremor coming out of its mouth.  
“That’s a mother fucking T-Rex.” Pidge gasped out.  
“All in favor of noping the fuck out?” the Red Paladin asked, and when the Rex took another step towards the group, everyone shouted in agreement and turned, running and screaming as the king of dinosaurs gave chase.  
“I fucking hate this planet!!” Keith yelled as Lance turned, shooting at the Rex, trying to deter it from giving chase, but it only seemed to piss it off more.  
“I say we nuke this planet from orbit!” the Cuban said, “It’s time for a fucking extinction!”  
“Less talking more running!” Pidge shouted as Hunk scooped the smallest Paladin up and over his shoulder in a Fireman’s Carry and the group picked up the pace.

 

The Rex behind them gave out another low sound, giving chase as its head lowered. It opened its mouth and lunged forward, snapping just shy of the Paladins.

“This guy needs some Mentos!” Lance complained, his nose scrunching up. “How are we going to ditch it?!”  
Keith panicked, looking around, before grunting in irritation, “Let’s try and slow it down in the woods!” he said, already running that way. The rest of the team followed, listening in horror as the Rex followed after them, but seemed to slow when they got into the trees. It was still giving chase, but it was obvious that it was much slower with all the obstacles.  
“Okay, keep going straight ahead!” Pidge shouted from over Hunk’s shoulder, having pulled up her map. “When I say so, go left and we should make it to the cliffside we came down on and we can start making our way back to the castle!”

 

There was a startled cry, Pidge yelling for Hunk to go faster as trees were knocked down behind them. She began to shout out for them to go left, everyone ignoring the stitches in their sides, the burning in their legs and lungs as they picked up the pace, breaking out of the trees and began hiking up the side of the cliff. The Rex’s head broke through the trees, watching them as it tried to squeeze through, thrashing around. Everyone was ignoring it as they ran, not sure when they heard the tyrant king finally break through with two loud cracks. It was rumbling out, picking up its pace as the group sprinted ahead, Pidge shouting out directions, signalling for them to break for the treeline to slow the creature down again.

 

Around them, the peaceful dinosaurs that had been grazing looked up, a cacophony erupting around them as each creature gave out warning cries and distressed sounds. The thudding of their footsteps was deafening as they all bailed, stampeding as one unit away from the large dinosaur that was chasing five tiny Paladins.  
“Why won’t it go after one of those?!” Lance whined out, glancing around the dinosaurs. “We won’t even make a good snack! We’re like after-meal mint sized to this thing!”

 

There was a shrill screeching sound from above, and Pidge craned her neck up, crying out in surprise as one of the large pterosaurs came swooping down from a tree, flying towards the Rex.  
“What’s going on?!” Hunk shouted, looking up as well, watching as another flew down as well, joining the first in dive bombing the Rex. Pidge squinted her eyes.  
“A nest! I think they’re defending their nest!”

 

“Go mom and dad!” Lance shouted out, grinning, “Let’s book it!”  
The group continued to run, Pidge watching in awe as the two pterosaurs swooped around, digging their beaks into the Rex’s neck and head, trying to drive it back. She let out a gasp when the Rex, annoyed, lunged its head, grabbing one of the parents’ wings and flung it to the ground. The other gave out a rebel yell, diving forward to defend its fallen mate. Whatever happened after that was hidden by the trees.

 

Pidge found herself hoping that both pterosaurs would be okay.

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

 

The group were gasping, panting weakly when they finally fell onto their knees. Pidge slid off Hunk’s shoulder, wobbling slightly when she found her legs felt like static.  
“I think I’m gonna hurl.” Lance wheezed, taking off his helmet to try and cool himself off. “I never want to run again ever.”

 

Pidge frowned, reaching up to her helmet. “Coran? Coran can you read us?”

There was no response. She frowned, trying again, Allura coming in to help once the princess had regained her breath.  
“Why isn’t he responding?” Hunk asked, gasping weakly.

 

“The castle is straight ahead. Let’s go.” Pidge said, checking her map. The group got back to their feet, making their way back to the castle. The closer the got, the more anxious they became, bayards out and at the ready.

 

The scene before them, no one was prepared for. “What the--”

“Ah, Paladins!” Coran said, chipper, waving from his perch on top of one of the creatures. It was bipedal, its stout neck lowered as it grazed, seemingly not minding that there was a strange alien man on its back. “They’re quite friendly! I’m afraid I’ve been caught up in studying them. I seem to have been accepted into their clan!” As the group go closer, they could see the dinosaur had sharp claws, but it was obviously content with not eating the meat source on its back. Raising its head it turned, looking at the other Paladins with interest, crunching loudly on a piece of fruit that they recognized from their own kitchen. “Ah! I see you’ve found Lance and Keith! That’s wonderful!”

“Yeah. Great.” Lance said, his shoulders slumping. “You’ve been up here playing with dinosaurs and we’ve been chased by things that want to eat us and use our bones to pick their teeth!”

 

Behind them, a low sound echoed, and everyone tensed. The dinosaurs that Coran had seemingly befriended all shot up, turning their heads to the sound. “What was that?” the older alien asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Trouble. Say goodbye to Dever and let’s go!” Lance all but yelled as he and the rest of the Paladins made for the castle. Coran slowly climbed down off the dinosaur, patting its side.  
“What’s making that sound?” he asked as he followed the group inside, everyone scrambling onto the main deck, Allura already at the controls, having dropped the bag of ore beside the door.

 

“Rexie’s pissed!” Keith said, looking out on the screen. Sure enough, the large image of the T-Rex came into view, sniffing around. “Let’s get out of here before it goes Godzilla on the castle!”

 

The sounds of the castle powering up, the particle barrier flickering into action, caught the dinosaur’s attention. It rumbled, surging forward, knocking into the protected field. Allura closed her eyes, concentrating as the castleship lifted and the group watched as the T-Rex made one last attempt at snapping at them, a final rumble pulling from its throat before they were far out of range.

 

Soon they were above the planet, and the four watched as Allura opened up a wormhole, taking them away from the amazing and awful planet Oria.

 

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

 

 

“I say, Pidge!” Coran said, watching in awe as he looked over the pictures Pidge had taken of the planet and its inhabitants. “These creatures are amazing!”  
Everyone was seated together in the lounge area, Pidge taking up a spot next to her computer as she flipped through the images. Hunk was seated behind her, leaning against the couch, Lance’s back pressed into his side, long legs spread out in front of him and across Keith’s lap. Keith stared at the images, his fingers gently tapping out a rhythm against Lance’s shins, neither boy making any comment on it. Allura was seated on the couch just across from them and Coran was standing there next to where the images were displayed, excitedly pointing out details.  
All in all a quiet, normal end to a mission.

“Amazing, yes. Terrifying, also yes.” Hunk said, the group murmuring in agreement as Pidge clicked a button, moving along the slideshow. Everyone tensed up, crying out in surprise (besides Coran and Pidge) when the next image was that of the T-Rex’s mouth, inches from the camera. A good shot of the view straight down it’s throat.

 

“Hunk had me over his shoulder, I just took an opportunity to get a once in a lifetime image.”  
“That’s creepy.” Lance muttered, shivering as he rubbed his arms, trying to settle the goosebumps.

 

Coran gave a thoughtful sound, stroking his chin. “I say, these dinosaurs are really quite fascinating.” he nodded. “Why, if we could somehow breed one of these creatures it could serve as good protection for the castle.”

At those words, the Paladins all tensed up, “No.” Lance said, his eyes wide as he looked over to Coran, sitting more upright. “No no, see, then they’ll attack and no one wants Jurassic Park in Space!”  
“But just imagine if we could genetically engineer one to suit--”

“No!!” Four of the five Paladins shouted, leaving both Allura and Coran stunned, looking to one another before shrugging.

 

Humans were strange. What else was new?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. It's done!  
> Thanks you guys for sticking around and reading this silly thing! I enjoyed writing it (and I hope you enjoyed reading it!!)
> 
>  
> 
> Fun Fact (not really "fun"): Fluffy was always meant to die.  
> Originally, Fluffy wasn't supposed to show up save for when Keith rescued him and here in this chapter, where the Raptor would have burst through and fought off the Rex, buying the group some time to escape (where the pterosaurs were was where Fluffy would have been). But when I was writing the Dilopho-notasaurus fight I thought it'd be more fun to have Lance and Keith just kind of have Fluffy pop up and join their group, thus is why Fluffy got more screentime.  
> It also gave me a chance to have fun in coming up with a bunch of names Lance wanted to call Fluffy instead.
> 
>  
> 
> Long live Fluffy, the bestest dinosaur ever.
> 
>  
> 
> Bye! Hope you all have a wonderful and healthy day!


End file.
